I am not a literary giant

Chapter 130 Garland at the Foot of the Mountain

Meanwhile, at the Qingyan app project center, even though it wasn't working hours, the office was packed with people.

All employees listened to the live stream.

After the Little Prince finished speaking, Qiu Ze slammed his fist on the table in anger:

"Who are you calling a bloodsucking parasite!"

His colleague stared at him without moving. Qiu Ze silently withdrew his fist and quietly rubbed it.

"The episode that best fits the 'stone hitting the dog' refrain."

"Damn it!" Qiu Ze cursed, "Did you really have to say it out loud?"

My colleague said quietly, "Sorry, I just couldn't hold it in any longer."

Qiu Ze said, "This 'Little Prince,' I thought he was some kind of high-level person because his fans are so enthusiastic. But after listening to him talk, he's just at this level. It's hard to find operators with four legs, but aren't it easy to find writers who can write? Just go to those online novel website writer groups, and a shout will bring a whole bunch of people flocking to you. You're doing something that doesn't have a technical moat, and you still expect to always be far ahead? To be honest, the moment you start writing, you should be prepared to be plagiarized. Even if you're not prepared for that, you should be prepared for others to learn your wording. What's with the pretentiousness? It's disgusting."

After listening to his complaints, his colleague said, "Your essay writing grades must not have been particularly good when you were in school, right?"

Qiu Ze turned to look at her: "My Chinese teacher didn't like me and always gave me low marks, so I stopped studying altogether. What happened? What does that have to do with it?"

"It's nothing."

During the live stream, the little prince continued talking about the contract. Qiu Ze shut his mouth, listened quietly, and then slammed his hand on the table.

"Damn! They're playing dirty!"

"This should be called an open conspiracy," a colleague next to him said thoughtfully.

At first, Qiu Ze was simply surprised by this tactic, but the more he thought about it, the more frightened he became: "Seriously? They really dare to come up with this kind of contract? How could they dare? Aren't they afraid the speech therapists will collectively start a rhetoric?"

After saying that, he had a sudden inspiration: "Right, let's take advantage of this moment and quickly set a trend."

He opened the "Qingyan Core Speech Therapist Inner Group," which he was the group owner of. The group had about 70 mid-to-high-level speech therapists from Qingyan, whom he had selected to infiltrate Wen'ai and steal scripts. They all received traffic support.

He posted in the group chat: "Friends, did you watch the live stream of 'Wen Ai Xiao Wang Zi'? They dared to offer those kinds of contracts, what do you think? [winking emoji]"

No one spoke for a while before a speech therapist sent a "picking nose" emoji.

Qiu Ze was a little anxious, and then typed: "Let's stir up some trouble in the Wen Ai group. The authorities should listen to the opinions of speech therapists. Doing speech therapy requires signing non-compete agreements. They won't make any money, but they'll lose a lot of money in breach of contract fees."

After a long silence, he added, "Brothers, we must fight for our interests. If we don't unite to fight against the authorities, we'll really have no choice when the fists come down."

After I finished speaking, I finally received a notification. When I opened it, I saw that someone had left the group, and there was one less person in the group.

Qiu Ze panicked. He hadn't seen who had left the group, and when he checked again, the leave record was gone. Only then did someone finally reply with a message in the group:

"support!"

Qiu Ze was quite encouraged, but upon closer inspection, he realized that the person who responded was the second-to-last performer in the group (he himself was the last). His spirits immediately dampened considerably.

The message notification sounded again; another person had silently left the group.

Qiu Ze stood up nervously, and his colleague next to him asked, "Aren't you going to stir up trouble anymore?"

"Why are you still trying to stir up trouble? Let's focus on securing this year's performance!"

He stormed into the manager's office. At that moment, Zhong Susu was scrolling through short videos, and Qiu Ze's face was ashen, but he couldn't say anything.

Everyone knows this person has powerful connections. The fact that she's willing to work overtime with them is already more than enough. What more can we expect from her?

"Manager Zhong, did you watch the Little Prince's live stream just now?"

"Um."

Zhong Susu shook the mouse, looking absent-minded, and made a sound from her nose that was barely audible unless you listened carefully.

Qiu Ze continued, "Manager Zhong, Wen'ai is about to release a new contract; they want to include non-compete agreements. Speech therapists won't be able to work for both companies simultaneously anymore. Some speech therapists in my group have already left. I'm worried that this might lead to us losing a number of speech therapists."

"Um."

Compared to the previous "hmm," this "hmm" carries a stronger sense of affirmation, which is a good sign.

Qiu Ze said, "I think we should take some countermeasures. We need to put some pressure on the other side. We can't remain indifferent, otherwise we'll be in a very passive position."

Zhong Susu sniffed loudly and finally spoke her first words: "What do you think we should do?"

Qiu Ze said, "Let's increase the number of speech therapists..."

He wanted to say "add some benefits", but then he thought that their project team had worked hard to make an objective net profit. If they added benefits, wouldn't that be a waste of their efforts?

Qiu Ze added, "We'll create an issue for the online trolls..."

He wanted to say "spend some money on the online army", but then he thought, wouldn't that still dilute the profits?

Zhong Susu crossed her arms: "What exactly are you trying to say?"

Qiu Ze forced a smile: "Am I really going to get two extra months' salary as my year-end bonus this year?"

Zhong Susu stared at him without speaking. Qiu Ze quickly put on a solemn face and said, "Manager Zhong, last month I worked more than 12 hours a day, pouring my heart and soul into it, which is how we achieved such good results. I even used all my savings to pay for the job, and I still don't know how I'll pay next month's rent. What you said before was my motivation. If you give me a definite answer, I'll feel more at ease and work with more enthusiasm and fighting spirit."

Zhong Susu fiddled with her hair, making small, thoughtful movements, as if considering how to reply. Finally, as if making up her mind, she spoke:

"Actually, it's still uncertain whether this year's year-end bonus will be paid out as usual, but I will definitely inform my successor about your situation, so you can rest assured."

Qiu Ze was utterly astonished: "Successor? What successor? I don't quite understand what you mean!"

"My position will be changing soon, and I will be returning to headquarters," Chung Su-su said. "The appointment and dismissal notice will be issued in a while, at which time I will formally complete the handover procedures."

Qiu Ze felt like the sky was about to fall.

Changing commanders at the last minute and having cronies flee—what does this signify? It's a sign that something bad is about to happen!

He really wanted to curse the heavens and the earth, to denounce every single person in the world who had connections. He used to laugh at the company commander and Jin Kailai in "The Garland at the Foot of the Mountain" for not leaving themselves a way out. They should know that the world might belong to them, but ultimately it would be theirs; good relationships were essential for future development. What spirit, what glory—weren't they all just ways to lure people to their deaths? Overestimating themselves.

Now he realizes that "Wreath at the Foot of the Mountain" is simply a masterpiece! Coming and going as you please, what do you take your brothers for? Besides, if you're here to gain experience, you should have said you were leaving earlier! Who have I been working so hard for all this time?

Qiu Ze's lips moved, his face flushed, but he was ultimately pulled down by the gravity of reality, and asked with a hint of dejection:

"Manager Zhong, do you see any suitable positions for me at headquarters?"

...He didn't remember how he left the manager's office, only that when he returned to his workstation, his colleague next to him was packing up to go home.

"Bad news, very bad news," Qiu Ze whispered, "Our manager might be transferred back to headquarters."

"Oh," my colleague said curtly. "Is that all?"

"Is there any worse news than this?" Qiu Ze looked up at her.

"It doesn't matter!" My colleague suddenly laughed genuinely. "I passed the interview at another company, and I'm starting work next month. They're offering double the salary!"

"ah??"

Qiu Ze let out a scream. He suddenly realized: Has it really come to this? Am I the last mouse to realize the ship is sinking?

Qiu Ze stood up and pressed, "Which company did you interview with?"

A mysterious smile appeared on his colleague's face, and the worst thought arose in Qiu Ze's mind:

"Could it be... a romantic connection?!"

My colleague bit her lip and said, "I'm going home."

Dozens of thoughts flashed through Qiu Ze's mind, and he immediately cursed, "Damn it, you have so many speech therapists, switching jobs there is a violation of professional ethics! Are there any positions left there? I have plenty of resources too."

My colleague tapped his chin with an innocent expression: "Hmm...it's really difficult! They don't need that many people, and besides, isn't your name already on their register? You're the one stirring things up."

Qiu Ze was struck dumb, as if by lightning.

"I'm going home now, bye-bye!~"

Qiu Ze suddenly realized that work is like a relationship: whoever invests the most gets hurt the most. He had become the saddest person in the building.

……

After the live stream ended, the entire company erupted in celebration, becoming as noisy as a market, with everyone having to shout to be heard.

As soon as the live stream ended, all the backend data began to climb rapidly, as if fired from a starting gun. Most notably, the number of people applying for S-visas was extremely high, with everyone gathered around their computers monitoring the data in real time, updating it every 15 minutes.

In less than half an hour, the victory was assured. The data growth practically screamed "explosive." The only regret among the employees was that they hadn't bought champagne beforehand.

Someone tore up scraps of paper from the table, hurled them into the air, and shouted "Long live the Little Prince!" Others followed suit.

Huang Da lost a bet and started doing clumsy Thomas spins on the ground, which caused a burst of laughter from the crowd.

Zuo Ziliang didn't like too much noise, but he didn't care about his employees venting their emotions. He just sat in his office, lit a cigarette, and monitored the data at any time.

Ye Lan carried the materials into the office to find Wang Zixu. She glanced at the report, then at him, and a smile almost popped out of her eyes.

She said, "It has to be the Little Prince!"

She added, "Just one hour into the live stream, over 700 people applied for S visas, and most of them who met the requirements have already applied. We've completed our monthly target ahead of schedule, all set!"

Finally, she said, "We don't know how many more speech therapists we can add next. As long as we can attract one-third of the speech therapists from Qingyan, we will establish a leading position in the industry."

Prince Xu smiled faintly, his face slightly pale. He didn't answer a single word.

Ye Lan knew he had something on his mind, so she gently patted his back and said, "Come on, let's go out for a late-night snack tonight, consider it a celebration."

Wang Zixu said, "No, I'm tired."

"Come on!"

Ye Lan pushed open the office door, and cheers from outside surged in, filling the corner of the office.

Look how happy everyone is!

Prince Xu shook his head.

Ye Lan was somewhat disappointed: "Come on, if you're always so withdrawn, you'll get depressed."

Prince Xu shook his head: "I like being alone, I won't become withdrawn."

Ye Lan was still unwilling to give up: "Are you really not coming?"

"Maybe next time."

He walked out of the office, which triggered another wave of cheers from the employees. Everyone was talking to him, some shouting loudly, some praising him softly. The crowd was like a monster with dozens of hands and feet. Some patted his shoulder, some hugged him, and some shook his hand.

After bidding farewell to everyone, Prince Xu hailed a car and went home alone.

He felt he had a bit of plaza syndrome; when surrounded by people, he didn't know what to do, and his mind went blank. Perhaps someone like him was better suited to being alone.

He returned to the house, which felt like his internal organs had been hollowed out, and couldn't help but cough.

The wall quickly returned his voice to him, in an ethereal tone.

He slowly took off his clothes, slowly lay down on the messy bed, and slowly covered himself with a thin blanket above his shoulders.

He curled up alone in bed, as if embracing himself.

……

When he woke up the next morning, it was already past 11 a.m., almost noon. The house was empty, and he realized that his wife had left. Strangely, he didn't feel particularly uneasy.

He turned on his phone and immediately a bunch of unread messages popped up. There were more than 99 unread messages on WeChat. Zuo Ziliang had called him once, Ning Chunyan had called him once, Ye Lan had called him three times, and there were two unknown numbers.

He yawned deeply and sat on the bed for a while before clearing his mind.

My whole body aches and aches, as if my bones and muscles have been torn apart and then put back together. My mouth tastes bitter. One nostril is also blocked.

He thought maybe he was just getting old. He hadn't done anything reckless last night, yet he still felt terrible when he woke up this morning. After washing up, he made sure his voice didn't sound like he had just woken up, and then called Ye Lan back.

"Oh my god, you're finally awake," Ye Lan said as soon as she answered the phone.

"Hmm. What's wrong? What's the matter?"

"Can't I contact you if there's nothing wrong?"

"You wouldn't call me three times if there wasn't a reason."

Ye Lan said, "It's not me who's contacting you, it's the publishing house. Their editor wants to talk to you about the book."

The prince asked humbly, "What about the book?"

"Who knows? What reprints, autograph sessions, or events? I don't understand any of that."

"A book signing event?"

Wang Zixu was somewhat surprised. How could I possibly hold a book signing event? Would that be outrageous?

Ye Lan said, "I don't know. I'll give you the other person's phone; you can talk to them yourself."

(End of this chapter)